Official Review: Crueler and more Unusual by Erik Dean

[Jax14]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Crueler and more Unusual" by Erik Dean.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Crueler and more Unusual by Erik Dean is a collection of four short stories about judicial horror.

The first story is called Dummy and in it, we meet two mechanics who decide to have one or two drinks in a bar after work. After consuming a few too many, they drive home with fatal consequences. The punishment dealt to the perpetrators is not your average jail sentence and being sorry is just not enough. Secondly, we have a story called Early Release. In an interesting twist, a family can ask for the early release of the prisoner who murdered their loved one. They then have twenty-four hours to catch him and kill him or he goes free. Kelvin Heyer has just been released; will these twenty-four hours be his last? Next, we move to a tale called Public Pool where pool contractors are vying for the opportunity to win a bid to build public pools in Phoenix. With this many builders involved, a murder or two might derail the whole process. The last story is called Broken Justice and is set in the future where trials take place in pods. In a world where most cars are automated, Holly still likes to drive hers but is caught speeding. When she arrives at her trial, she realises that punishment is dealt out there and then, from fines to being vaporised. But what happens if the system’s automated process has a bug?

This book is a quick read and a very interesting take on what could happen in the future in the judicial system. I felt each concept was thought-provoking, and I liked that each story was introduced and that the author wrote a piece at the end explaining why he had written them. Each story deals with a transgression and the unique way in which it is handled. The stories also have a much deeper meaning, and the moral or teaching that must be taken away is clearly understood.

While I enjoyed the stories themselves, there was a round of editing missing here. There are a number of punctuation issues from missing commas, to extra full stops, to missing quotation marks. There are also tense jumps as well as POV jumps and very often the writing came across as flat where a scene would have “and then, and then and then”.

Since I enjoyed the stories so much, I only took a star off for editing so rate Crueler and more Unusual 3 out of 4 stars. There are scenes of torture and violence, so I would not advise this for sensitive readers. However, those with an interest in the judiciary and are looking for a quick read would definitely enjoy this.

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Crueler and more Unusual
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[Ngozi Onyibor]

Regardless of the errors, I would like to read the book. It seems like a collection of reflective stories, and I like the author's unusual thoughts.

[kandscreeley]

These stories sound unusual and extremely intriguing. I want to see the justice of the future! You've made the summary sound right up my alley! Thanks.